Chapter Three

Jason carried me through the halls, both of us soaking wet. I played over what happened in my head, but I must've blacked out because there was a part missing. How did I get out of the water? Jason carried me into the nurse's office who knew me well since I was sick often. When she saw us, her eyes widened.

"Good heavens! Why are you wet, Blake? Did you fall in the pool?" Nurse Nancy stood. "Put her down here. There's towels in the cabinet." Jason set me in a chair and went to go get towels.

"I was pushed off the track." I grumbled. Now that I wasn't clinging to Jason who was warm, I felt cold. "I'm fine, though."

"You're not fine. You would've drowned if I hadn't gotten to you." Jason wrapped me in a large white towel.

"But you did get to me, Jay." I shivered.

"You inhaled water. Chlorine." He argued.

"He's right. You don't want that in your lungs." Nurse Nancy agreed. I glared at Jason. I know he saved my life, but I hated being teamed up on. When Nurse Nancy let us leave, I looked up at him.

"How did you do it?" I asked.

"Do what?"

"Get to me so fast. How did you do that?"

"I'm a fast swimmer." His face twitched. That always meant there was more to the story.

"I was in the middle of the pool which is HUGE." I shivered in my towel. "You weren't even in the pool." We stopped in front of the girl's locker room. I was glad that I always carried extra clothes in my bag.

"I wasn't that far from you." He didn't look at me as he said it.

"And I didn't know you'd just lie to me like that." I frowned, throwing my towel at him and going into the locker room. I knew he was lying because he didn't look at me when he spoke and there was no way that he was so fast that he swam to me, pulled me out of the pool, and gave me CPR before Samantha got down to the pool. It wasn't possible.

* ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ *

Class was over and everyone was changing out of their swim suits. I put my wet clothes in a plastic bag and changed into a new pair of shorts and a t-shirt. When I left the locker room, I combed my fingers through my hair. I would have to wash it when I got home. As I ran my fingers through my hair, a clump locked itself around my fingers and came out. I didn't even pull. I planned to put a lot of conditioner in my hair when I washed it. I was standing outside the locker room, examining the gray hairs wrapped around my fingers. When had my hair turned gray and why is it falling out?

"Blake." Jason called. I snapped out of my trance and frowned, walking away. "Blake! Wait!" He caught up to me, staring at my hair.

"Whoa, what happened?"

"What do you want, Jay?!" I stopped and looked up at my tall friend. People started looking, too. "You lied to me and as best friends we aren't supposed to lie to each other!"

"Blake, people are staring." He spoke quietly. I looked around, seeing curious eyes. I looked up to Jason, even angrier.

"Oh, so you can't yell at the hot, popular, guy that all the girls fall in love with now? Huh?" I said loudly. "Well, everyone. Take a look! He may be hot and my best friend, but he is a liar and will lie straight to your face." I felt dizzy and weakness started spreading through me.

"Blake, that's not-" He touched my arm and before I could think, I slapped him across the face. When I did, all the anger I felt vanished for a moment. He looked at me surprised, but it didn't seem like I had hurt him. Just his feelings. His emerald eyes were wide as he contemplated what to do. There were gasps and whispers all around us. Why had I blown up over a simple lie, anyway? Quickly, I turned around and left. I needed to get home.